Visual displays are utilized to present a wide variety of types of information including but not limited to television images, computer system content, information handling system content, still images, video clips, movie content, etc. Thus, the information presented on a visual display may originate from a wide variety of sources.
In some displays, two different images may be presented at the same time. For example, television displays may contain a feature known as picture-in-picture (PIP). In a PIP display, primary content may be presented on the display while secondary content may be presented in a secondary smaller window that overlays the primary content window. Thus primary content may be presented in a first window and secondary content may be displayed in a second window of the display. Other multi-window formats include, for example, picture-by-picture (PBP) and picture-outside-picture (POP). PBP formats generally provide two windows presented side by side on a display while POP formats may present a primary window on a display with one or more secondary windows next to the primary window (typically the secondary window being smaller). POP3, for example, may include three secondary windows to the side of the primary window and POP12 may include one centered primary window surrounded by 12 smaller secondary windows. Thus, a wide range of secondary window modes exist.
The source for the content of the information to be presented on a display may be provided to the display in a wide variety of interface formats including VGA (video graphics array), DVI (digital video interface), analog television, digital television, component video, composite video, s-video, HMDI (high definition multimedia interface), etc. formats. Digital video formats include, but are not limited to the high-definition television (HDTV) formats. High definition formats typically have 720 or more lines of resolution. Exemplary HDTV formats include 720p (1280×720 pixels), 1080i (1920×1080 pixels) and 1080p (1920×1080 pixels). High definition content is typically provided in consumer electronic products in one of a variety of interface formats including DVI, HDTV, component video, and HMDI (such formats may be called high definition consumer electronic interface formats). Displays compatible with digital display signals may still, however, utilize analog display signals to generate primary windows or secondary windows such as the PIP, PBP or POP windows.
As the use of digital and high definition content has increased, the aspect ratio of the displays themselves as also evolved. Whereas once displays were often shaped to conform to a 4:3 format aspect ratio common for analog television, displays may now often be found to have a 16:9 (wide) format aspect ratio. The content to be displayed on either a 4:3 or 16:9 sized aspect ratio display often may be content formatted in either 4:3 or 16:9 formats or other formats wider than 16:9, such as 2.23:1. When content of one format is presented on a display that has an aspect ratio of the other format the content may be presented with “black bars” at the top/bottom and/or left/right of the display window or alternatively the content may be sized to fit a given display window aspect ratio. A wide variety of scaling techniques are known in the art. FIG. 1 provides exemplary scaling techniques for a variety of different input signal aspect ratios to be presented on a display window that has an aspect ratio of 16:9. Each column of FIG. 1 relates to a different content input signal aspect ratio: column 10 being a 4:3 input, column 12 being a 16:9 input and column 14 being a <16:9 input. Each row of FIG. 1 corresponds to an exemplary scaling technique. Thus, for example, a 4:3 input signal provided with STANDARD scaling is represented at the intersection of column 10 and row 20. As may be visually seen from FIG. 1 such a combination results in the 4:3 input image being stretched horizontally to fill the 16:9 display window. STANDARD scaling and a 16:9 input provides a result with no stretching as shown by the intersection of column 12 and row 20. STANDARD scaling and a <16:9 aspect ratio input results in the presence of black bars as shown by the intersection of column 14 and row 20. Other scaling techniques may include row 22 ZOOM in which the top and bottom of a 4:3 input is cropped and all sides of a 16:9 or <16:9 input are cropped. Row 24 illustrates a 4:3 scaling technique in which a 4:3 input is shown in the correct aspect ratio with black bars, a 16:9 input is squeezed horizontally, and a <16:9 input is squeezed horizontally and vertically. The WIDE scaling technique shown in row 26 provides for a 4:3 input a non-linear scaling of 5% off the top and bottom and a 16.5% right left stretch (the 16:9 and <16:9 inputs being the same as the STANDARD scaling technique). The FULL SCREEN scaling technique of row 28 is the same as the STANDARD scaling technique except that <16:9 inputs are linearly stretched to fill the display window.
It is desirable to provide improvements in the methods and techniques for implementing secondary windows that display high definition content.